PSA release pharmacist prescribing position statement
15 April 2024
The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia has released its Pharmacist Prescribing position statement, highlighting the growing need for pharmacists to practise to their full and top of scope.
Ahead of the release of the next Scope of Practice Review Issues Paper, PSA clarifies support for pharmacist prescribing through emphasising patient safety and quality practice, and make clear that pharmacists have the required competencies to conduct both prescribing and dispensing.
PSA National President Associate Professor Fei Sim FPS said that regulation should exist to support timely access to medicines, not limit it.
“Pharmacists should not be prevented from helping patients when they need care,” A/Prof Sim said.
“Pharmacists can prescribe medicines within their scope of practice. The red tape and regulation that gets in the way of pharmacists helping patients needs to go.
“Pharmacists currently prescribe within a limited formulary, namely under Continued Dispensing arrangements and Pharmacist-Only medicines, but we have the skills and knowledge to do more.
“Current emergency supply provisions do not adequately mitigate the risks associated with ceasing therapy when a patient cannot access their medicines for a wide range of reasons.
“We need to remove the out-of-date regulatory barriers that get in the way of delivering timely, effective health care.
“We’ve seen in other countries pharmacists are prescribing a wider range of medicines than in Australia. This has been successful in providing safe access to medicines where patients have had trouble accessing other prescribers.
“The emergence of pharmacist prescribing pilots in many Australian jurisdictions is further evidence that pharmacist prescribing is driven by real demand on the ground, and serves to address a gap to improve overall health system capability and capacity.
“We know that the Scope of Practice Review is long, so we have renewed our position statement to meet the evolving health needs of our population.”
The position statement also clearly articulates PSA’s commitment to quality and safety measures for pharmacist prescribing.
”Prescribing and dispensing remain as two discrete clinical activities, and pharmacists’ practice in these two activities will continue to be underpinned by appropriate clinical governance to ensure quality and standards,” A/Prof Sim said.
“This position solidifies our commitment to evidence-based health service delivery.
“PSA strongly believes in the implementation of evaluation and quality frameworks for prescribing services, ensuring that all health service delivery is responsive to the care and therapeutic needs of patients.”
PSA’s Pharmacist Prescribing Position Statement is available here.
Media contact: Georgia Clarke M: 0480 099 798 E: georgia.clarke@psa.org.au
